We were a little behind schedule and left an hour later than planned.  We had decided against plan A which was a visit to Avebury to break our journey to Winchester. We didn’t want to rush the visit.  As we journeyed south we also shelved plan B which was to visit a National Trust property called The Vyne because we decided there wasn’t enough time to do that justice either. After stopping at Warwick services to buy sandwiches from Waitrose, which we ate in the car we moved on to plan C.

We stopped in a town called Newbury and enjoyed a cup of tea by the side of the river whilst watching the swans and narrow boats. After our cuppa we went for a stroll around the town and visited St. Nicholas Church before resuming our journey.

As we approached the hotel a fire engine we followed a fire engine with a rotating platform. It turned off before arrived at the hotel car park. On arrival at the car park the attendant booked us in and advised us that there were currently no spaces and that we should try the staff car park just around the corner. If that was full we were to come back as a few cars were just about to leave. There were no spaces on the staff car park but we found the fire engine with its rotating platform parked up outside. We drove back to the hotel and managed to find an awkward space and wiggle into it. As we did this a standard fire engine drove past us in the direction of the Cathedral.

We checked in and went to find our room with a view over the Cathedral grounds. On entering our ‘Room with a View’ we noticed the fire engine with the rotating platform fully extending and performing some activity in relation to the Cathedral building. There were firemen everywhere. After this bit of excitement we fetched the bags out of the car and unpacked before going out for dinner in Loch Fyne.

After the meal Mr C was drawn by the sound of music coming from inside one of the local pubs.  The entrance was up an alley way and it didn’t have a good feel (to me) so I held back and stepped aside to let one of the locals come past me. He helped us find the kind of pub that Mr C was really looking for. It was called ‘The Oak’ and its claim to fame was being the oldest pub in England…

When we arrived at the hotel earlier in the day, I started experiencing an excruciating pain in the top upper part of my back if I twisted in the wrong direction.  This had got worse over the evening and I was hoping it was going to have recovered by the morning… I think it had been brought on when I was adjusting the seat as we set off in the morning. Mr C had suddenly accelerated causing the car seat to shoot backwards…

We set off in good time and when the time came we stopped at a tea shop for elevenses at a place we tried to stop at a few years ago on another visit to Wiltshire. On that occasion we aborted the attempt, some sort of event was going on which meant parking in a muddy field and my shoes weren’t suitable for trekking back across the field to the tea shop.

After a refreshing cup of tea we resumed our journey, stopping along the way for lunch at Bourton on the Water.  After lunch we did a bit of window shopping before continuing on our journey to Salisbury. When we arrived at the hotel ‘The White Hart’ we realised that it did not have a lift!!  This is very unusual for a Mercure hotel and I wondered how Mum would cope with her leg up and down the stairs.  You might recall that she broke her leg last October and we had to abort a family holiday.  This Salisbury trip was the long awaited rescheduled weekend away.

When we had unpacked and settled in we strolled across the road to have dinner in a pub right next to the hotel.   Afterwards we returned to the hotel for a nightcap before retiring for a good nights sleep.